NullPointerException while raise an embedded ldap server using spring

Question

I'm trying to raise the Spring Embedded Ldap Server using:

But I'm keep on getting this exception:

2010-06-10 14:33:35,559 ERROR main ApacheDSContainer start - Server startup failed 
java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.apache.directory.server.core.schema.DefaultSchemaService.initialize(DefaultSchemaService.java:382)
        at org.apache.directory.server.core.DefaultDirectoryService.initialize(DefaultDirectoryService.java:1425)
        at org.apache.directory.server.core.DefaultDirectoryService.startup(DefaultDirectoryService.java:907)
        at org.springframework.security.ldap.server.ApacheDSContainer.start(ApacheDSContainer.java:160)
        at org.springframework.security.ldap.server.ApacheDSContainer.afterPropertiesSet(ApacheDSContainer.java:113)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.invokeInitMethods(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1469)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.initializeBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:1409)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.doCreateBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:519)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.createBean(AbstractAutowireCapableBeanFactory.java:456)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory$1.getObject(AbstractBeanFactory.java:291)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.getSingleton(DefaultSingletonBeanRegistry.java:222)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.doGetBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:288)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.getBean(AbstractBeanFactory.java:190)
        at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.preInstantiateSingletons(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:563)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.finishBeanFactoryInitialization(AbstractApplicationContext.java:872)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:423)
        at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.createWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:276)
        at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader.initWebApplicationContext(ContextLoader.java:197)
        at org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener.contextInitialized(ContextLoaderListener.java:47)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3764)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4212)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:760)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:740)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:544)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptor(HostConfig.java:626)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployDescriptors(HostConfig.java:553)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:488)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1138)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:311)
        at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:120)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1022)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:736)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1014)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:448)
        at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:700)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:552)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:295)
        at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:433)

I'm using spring 3.0.2 and added the following jars for the ldap: spring-security-ldap-3.0.2.RELEASE.jar spring-ldap-1.3.0.RELEASE-all.jar apacheds-all-1.5.6.jar shared-ldap-0.9.15.jar slf4j-api-1.5.6.jar slf4j-simple-1.5.6.jar

Help please....

Answer 1

@Zorkus: I'm not sure exactly what kind of problem you came across with Apache Directory, and what is the root cause of that, but if all you need is a working embedded java LDAP server for integration testing with Spring Security then you might want to consider some alternatives.

I've recently started to investigate for alternatives, because I couldn't achieve with Apache Directory what I wanted despite a lot of time and effort invested. (I basically wanted to replicate the schema and the user database of an Active Directory instance into an embedded server.)

What I found is that the UnboundID LDAP SDK is a nice replacement. Integrating with it requires a bit more effort than a one-liner in your spring context (like <security:ldap-server/>), but not much more. Starting up an LDAP server requires just a few lines of code:

InMemoryDirectoryServerConfig config = 
        new InMemoryDirectoryServerConfig("dc=example, dc=com");

// schema config only necessary if the standard 
// schema provided by the library doesn't suit your needs
config.setSchema(Schema.getSchema("your-custom-schema.schema"));

// listener config only necessary if you want to make sure that the
// server listens on port 33389, otherwise a free random port will 
// be picked at runtime - which might be even better for tests btw.
config.setListenerConfigs(
        new InMemoryListenerConfig("myListener", null, 33389, null, null, null));

InMemoryDirectoryServer ds = new InMemoryDirectoryServer(config);

ds.startListening();

// import your test data from ldif files
ds.importFromLDIF(true,"content.ldif");

The only dependency you will need for this to work is:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.unboundid</groupId>
    <artifactId>unboundid-ldapsdk</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.1</version>
</dependency>

It would be pretty easy to wrap the above code in a class that you can instantiate and configure from your Spring context.

For documentation and code examples on the UnboundID LDAP SDK see: https://www.unboundid.com/products/ldap-sdk/docs/

(I'm not affiliated with UnboundID in any way.)

Answer 2

Check whether the authorization state used by the LDAP client has access to the schema.